Your Instagram aesthetic is the first thing potential customers will discover once they take a look at your brand’s profile. The layout, colors, tone, and overall feeling of your Instagram account contribute to an aesthetic that could either gain more followers—or send them running.
A unique and cohesive Instagram aesthetic isn’t just visually pleasing, however, could greatly enhance brand recognition and business success. It’ll convey your brand’s voice, personality, and support your followers instantly recognize your content when it appears on the feed.
While this all sounds great in theory, actually making a successful Instagram aesthetic could feel like a vague undertaking. We are here to help.
How to create a unique and cohesive Instagram aesthetic
Step 1. Establish your brand
Without clicking on a single post, your Instagram aesthetic offers your viewers a sense of who you’re and what makes your brand stand out. This makes defining your brand a crucial first step. You may have started this process already with your site, logo, or bricks and mortar location, however, you will need to translate your brand over to Instagram in a method that makes sense to your audience.
Right here’s a list of questions to help guide you thru this process:
- Who’s your target audience? If you know who your content is trying to talk to, growing your brand’s aesthetic becomes second-nature. A luxury pet clothing store in Beverly Hills will have a different audience than a Portland skateboard shop.
- What are your core values? Each brand has its own priority that shows its overall look and feels on Instagram. When you are a hiking supplies firm that thrives on nature and sustainable clothing, for instance, your brand’s Instagram page will reflect these values. It should not be in-your-face however could show up via color choices (more on that later), content subjects and any messaging that is shared via stylized text posts.
- What’s your vibe? This may sound like a new-age skater dude type of query, however, it’s essential to consider. Does your brand wish to keep things casual and fun? Or minimalist and cool? Do you utilize a conversational tone with the occasional swear word thrown in? Or are you formal and composed? Those questions could all help establish the kind of ‘feel’ you are going for.
Step 2. Take color seriously
Color is the single most essential thing in terms of making a unique Instagram aesthetic for your brand.
Research finds that color influences consumer purchasing decisions by around 85%. Not only that, however, color increases brand recognition by 80%. Making the right color decisions for your Instagram posts could actually impact your bottom line.
There are lots of methods to utilize the power of color to grow your Instagram aesthetic. If you already have a site, logo, and a presence on other social networks, utilize your pre-established brand colors.
When you have picked your colors, incorporate them into your content. This does not have to be obvious, however, rather a certain tone or color family to stick to. When you begin doing this, you will notice how cohesive your Instagram page begins to look. Even if the content is not identical from post to post, a uniform color palette is naturally pleasing to the eye and will bring your page collectively.
Consumers judge a brand within 90 seconds of seeing it for the first time — and up to 90 % of this judgment is based on color. Ensure your brand colors help shape your overall brand voice. For instance, happy-go-lucky kids’ daycare may not want to have a totally dark and dreary feed.
Selecting your Instagram page colors could be tricky, however, the following ideas could help:
- Make a Pinterest mood board. Begin saving Pins that inspire you or are related to your brand to a Pinterest board. For instance, when you are a bathing suit firm your Pinterest mood board might need images of the beach, palm trees, picnic scenes, pool parties, and sunsets. Certain imagery will attract you more than others, so take note of any color patterns you see popping up in the content you save.
- Create a color palette. In case your brand does not already have a color guide, it’s time to get one. Discover six or fewer colors that you could commit to utilizing throughout your content. Reference this group of colors anytime you make content, whether that is in the form of an image, video, or text-based post. Ensure at least one of your established colors are present in your post to make sure your Instagram aesthetic is consistent. When you do not know where to begin, the free online tool My Insta Palette shows you the most-used colors on your feed. When you notice a theme, select your colors from these selections. As you make content moving forward, stick to your chosen palette.
Step 3. Discover the power of editing
When you have ever seen an Instagram page that seems to have all the right components, but somehow just does not work, you have noticed the power of editing.
The most cohesive Instagram aesthetics will have their own editing style down pat. There is no flip-flopping between dark and moody photos and light and bright content. All of it looks as if it was made on the same day and in the same light.
The simplest method to make sure your Instagram aesthetic is consistent is by editing your images with presets. Instagram presets are pre-made filters you could apply to your images utilizing an editing program like Adobe Lightroom. You will no longer have to fiddle around for hours attempting to remember exactly how much brightness you usually add to your photos.
Presets do all of the hard work for you. They make sure you do not spend hours editing posts one at a time.
Get free professionally-designed Instagram presets—and learn how to use them—with our step-by-step guide.
Step 4. Plan, plan, plan
When you have nailed your colors and editing style, it’s time to plan out your Instagram feed. You want your Instagram page to look thoughtful and professional, and planning it out carefully is the way to do this.
If you plan out your feed, you are capable of seeing what posts look greatest next to each other—and what posts do not. You will be capable to tell where you want another hit of your brand’s dominant color, and where you can stand to add a lighter-hued picture to the mix.
This might sound like a time-consuming task, however, we promise we would not do this to you. Planning out your Instagram feed can actually save you time, not to mention improve your overall aesthetic.
Free tools such as Planoly allow you to drag and drop without actually posting anything until you are ready. When you have planned out where you want everything to go, you could use Hootsuite’s Instagram scheduling feature to save yourself even more time.
Step 5. Don’t just stop at your feed
You did it. You have a unique and cohesive Instagram feed. You could not stop here, although.
Imagine in case your favorite vegan ice cream place randomly introduced one meaty option? You’d feel thrown off and confused.
When you have a stunning and consistent Instagram feed, however, other components on your page do not match, your audience may wonder what’s occurring.
A great place to begin is with your Instagram Stories. When you have established your Instagram aesthetic, make style information so you have something to refer to when making Stories content. It’ll also help anybody else who posts on your account in the future align with your look and tone.
Here’s make an Instagram Stories style guide. Utilizing Instagram Stories templates is another quick and simple method to level up your Stories consistency—without creating them boring.
Another small change that has a huge impact on the look and feel of your Instagram page is your Stories Highlights covers. Once you select colors and icons for these covers that match or complement your brand colors, you add an extra visually-pleasing element to your profile. Find out how to make your own flawless Instagram Stories Highlights covers or download the professionally-designed premade ones.